Read The Nutcracker Ballet Mystery Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Nancy raised one brow. “Stole Lawrence? I didn’t
know you two were even dating. And from what I can
see, Shana and Lawrence aren’t exactly on good
terms.”
Darci snorted and threw the paper towel in the
trash. “Yeah? Well, even hotshot detectives don’t know
everything.”
Nancy wondered what Darci meant. But one thing
was for sure: Darci was in no mood to confess. Nancy
would have to try tripping her up. “You mean, things
like who broke into the dance school?” Nancy said,
studying Darci’s face to see how the girl would react.
But Darci just looked at her curiously, then opened her
purse to pull out a lipstick. “Or who turned on the
snow machine at rehearsal the other day?” Nancy
continued.
Darci spun around. “That wasn’t me!” she cried.
Flinging her lipstick back into her purse, she pushed
past Nancy and headed to the door. Her face was
flushed, and she looked as if she was about to cry again.
“Darci, wait.” Nancy grabbed the girl’s elbow, but
Darci jerked her arm from Nancy’s grasp. “I’d like to
help,” Nancy said gently.
“No, you wouldn’t,” Darci spat out. “You just want to
make sure that Miss Big Star Shana doesn’t go back to
New York. Well, I’m sorry Madame got hurt, but I
wouldn’t be sorry if my sister fell and broke her stupid
neck!”
Darci ran from the ladies room. Nancy sprinted after
her, but when she reached the door, it swung toward
her and she had to jump back. An elderly woman
wearing a high-necked velvet dress and pearls had
walked into the ladies room. It was Mrs. Farnsworth.
“Well, hello, Miss Drew,” she said in a polite voice,
but her gaze bore into Nancy like a drill. “Have you
located my ornaments yet?”
Nancy was caught off guard. “Uh, no,” she
stammered. “But I know what happened to them,” she
added quickly, trying to edge around the woman. “In
fact, that’s what I’ve been working on tonight, so if
you’ll excuse me—” She flashed Mrs. Farnsworth a big
smile, then squeezed past her and dashed into the
lobby.
Seeing that Darci wasn’t there, Nancy hurried into
the main dining hall. Shana was next to the dessert
table, talking to Bess. Standing on tiptoe, Nancy
scanned the crowd for Lawrence. Had he taken Darci
home? Then she spotted him, next to Madame and
several parents who appeared to be leaving with tired
kids. Nancy checked her watch. It was almost eleven.
Bess caught sight of Nancy and waved. “Boy, you
should have a piece of this cake,” she said when Nancy
walked up to her and Shana.
“Did you see Darci?” Nancy asked.
“Yes,” Shana replied. “She burst in here a second
ago and told my dad that she was feeling sick and
wanted to go home. They’re probably getting their
coats.”
“I guess Darci didn’t confess,” Bess said.
Shana shook her head. “There’s no way Darci drove
that van. My sister may have done some stupid things
these last couple of days, and maybe she was trying to
ruin the ballet. But she wouldn’t hurt anyone on
purpose.”
Shana sighed heavily and set down her cake plate.
“I’m exhausted. I guess I’d better round up my mother
and Michelle. Dad will be back in a few minutes to get
us. I’ll see you two Monday, okay?”
Nancy and Bess nodded and waved goodbye. Then
Nancy turned to the dessert table and cut herself a
slice of cake. “I’m convinced I’m missing something,”
she told Bess, frowning. “I’ve been so sure the
troublemakers were Lawrence and Darci that I haven’t
suspected anyone else. Maybe . . .”
“Oh, come on, Nancy,” Bess chided as she studied a
tray of cookies. “It has to be them. Shana’s just sticking
up for her sister. I mean, Lawrence and Darci are the
only ones with motives, right?”
“True.” Still, something was nagging at Nancy. Then
she realized what it was that was bothering her: the
footprints.
Plunking her plate on the table, Nancy twirled
around. “Come on, we’ve got to go,” she told Bess. “I
need to check out those footprints before the snow
covers them. We may be too late already.”
“What?” With a look of dismay, Bess glanced at the
dessert table, then back at Nancy. “We’re going to
leave all this?”
“Yup.” Grabbing Bess’s hand, Nancy began to lead
her friend to the coatroom. “To make up for it, I’ll owe
you a sundae at Yogurt Heaven.”
Soon Nancy and Bess were back in the dance
school’s parking lot. The snow had stopped, but now
there was a confusion of footprints around the van.
“The police must have been here,” Nancy guessed.
“They were probably trying to verify that this was the
vehicle that rammed us.”
“How are you going to find Darci’s prints in all this
mess?” Bess asked.
Flicking on her flashlight, Nancy walked from the
van’s passenger side to the road. “I’ll have to find the
path she made,” she said.
Suddenly, Nancy bent down. “Here they are,” she
told Bess excitedly. “Just as I thought.” Nancy shined
the light on the perfect prints.
“Are you going to fill me in?” Bess asked. Her teeth
were chattering, and she was rubbing her hands up and
down on her coat sleeves. “Before I freeze to death?”
Nodding, Nancy stood up. “Those footprints are
about the same size as Darci’s, which is why I
immediately thought she’d made them. But now I’m
not so sure.” She aimed the light closer. “Look at the
pointy toes.”
“So? Maybe Darci borrowed her mother’s shoes.”
Nancy flicked off the light. “Maybe. But if you were
a teenager out to burglarize someplace, what would
you wear?”
Bess thought for a moment. “Probably my flat-
heeled boots or my tennis shoes.”
“Exactly.” Nancy started back to the Mustang.
Bess followed behind her. “Okay. So what do the
pointy shoes prove?”
“Nothing,” Nancy told her. “Yet. But maybe Shana’s
right. I need to stop concentrating on just Darci and
Lawrence.” When she reached the car, Nancy turned
and gave Bess a troubled look. “There may be others
who are out to ruin The Nutcracker.”
* * *
“So what else did I miss?” George asked Bess and
Nancy as they drove through the snow-covered pine
forest. It was Sunday morning, and the girls were
headed into the park to cross-country ski. “A car chase,
a mouse-headed monster, and missing ornaments,”
George went on. “My ski party wasn’t half as exciting.”
Nancy laughed. “We’re going with you today so we
can forget all the excitement at the dance school.”
“Boy, would I like to forget it.” Bess yawned from
the backseat of Nancy’s Mustang. “I’m exhausted from
all that sloshing around in the snow. Not that I would
have picked skiing to help me forget. A buffet breakfast
at some trendy new restaurant is more my style.”
“That’s for sure.” George laughed. “I’m surprised
you volunteered to go with us.”
“It was either that or go into the dance school,” Bess
explained. “Madame actually called this morning to say
that Mrs. Wolaski was showing up and would I like to
come in and help. I had to think of a quick excuse.
Going skiing with you two was the only thing I could
think of.”
“I talked to Madame this morning, too,” Nancy said.
“The police contacted her. The ballet school’s van was
definitely the one that ran into us. Fortunately, since
Madame can prove she wasn’t driving it, she won’t be
liable.” Nancy frowned. “Unfortunately, Lawrence
can’t prove he wasn’t driving it. The police said he has
no alibi, except when he was with Darci, and that
wasn’t until later. And since Lawrence is an employee
of the school, the school can be liable for the damages
to all the other cars.”
Bess groaned. “Oh, no. Poor Madame. She doesn’t
need lawsuits on top of everything else.”
“Which means you’ve got to prove who was driving
that van, Nancy,” George said.
Nancy nodded as she pulled the Mustang into the
parking lot. “And soon.”
But half an hour later, when the girls skied into the
park, Nancy tried to forget about Madame and her
problems. The sun was sparkling through the branches
of the pine trees, making the snow glisten. And since it
was fairly early, the three of them had the trail all to
themselves.
“Ready for something besides the beginner trail?”
George called to Bess when they reached an
intersection in the trails. She pointed up a hill with her
ski pole.
“Uh, I don’t know.” Bess’s cheeks were bright red
from the cold and exercise. “I always forget how much
work this is. Can’t we go back and have lunch?”
With a grin, Nancy checked her watch. “It’s only ten
o’clock. And why would you want to be inside on such a
great day?” She looked up through the trees. “Just look
at that sky.”
“Not without my dark glasses,” Bess grumbled.
“Cheer up, Bess.” George laughed at the disgruntled
expression on her cousin’s face. “It sounds like help is
on the way. Hear that engine? Maybe it’s a park ranger
bringing us some hot chocolate.”
Nancy looked up the intermediate trail. It sounded
as if the snowmobile was coming down the steep hill.
Suddenly it zoomed into sight, bouncing over a
ledge of rock and tearing down the trail toward them.
Nancy caught a glimpse of the driver. He was wearing
a black ski mask over his head.
“That’s no park ranger,” George called over her
shoulder. “This guy’s not supposed to be on the trail.”
“Maybe we’d better tell him.” Nancy slid her skis
forward. The driver was going down the hill very fast,
and instead of slowing down as he approached them,
Nancy heard him accelerate. He was going to run right
into them!
“Get off the trail,” Nancy yelled, waving her ski pole
at George and Bess.
Doing a neat turn, Nancy quickly coasted into the
woods. Ahead of her, she could see George ski into a
small grove of pines. But right behind her, Bess was
still on the trail. Her left ski was crossed under her
right one, and she couldn’t move.
“Bess, hurry!” Nancy cried. “I can’t,” Bess wailed.
Suddenly, she toppled sideways, landing in the middle
of the trail.
“Bess!” Nancy flipped her own skis around. But as
she looked back up the trail, her heart caught in her
throat. The snowmobile was barreling down, picking
up speed. And the driver was leaning over the
handlebars, steering right for Bess!
Nancy threw herself forward into the snow. Reaching
in front of her, she grabbed Bess’s ski jacket. Using all
her strength, Nancy pulled her off the trail.
The snowmobile zoomed past in a spray of snow,
running over the back tips of Bess’s skis. Then it
skidded to a stop, spun around, and faced them again.
“Look out! It’s coming back!” Nancy screamed.
Scrambling to her knees, Nancy tried to free her boots
from the bindings.
“Nancy, get down!” she heard George yell. Looking
up, she saw her friend standing in the middle of the
trail. George’s skis were off, and she was holding a tree
branch in both hands like a baseball bat.
Dropping down, Nancy flattened herself against the
snow. She could hear Bess breathing heavily beside
her. But after seeing George, the snowmobiler
apparently had second thoughts. With a roar of the
motor, he turned around and headed away from them.
“Whew. That was a close one,” George finally
gasped. Throwing down the branch, she reached out
her hand to Nancy. “Let me help you up.”
Nancy struggled to her feet, managing to get her skis
going in the right direction. “That was a close call,” she
said.
“Oooo. It feels like I broke both ankles,” Bess said
from the ground. Putting her hands under Bess’s arms,
George lifted her cousin up. Bess’s skis angled wildly
into the air, and her poles were on the other side of the
trail.
Once she was safely on her feet, Bess gave George a
pat on the back. “Thanks for scaring that creep off,”
she said. “Whoever it was, he sure wasn’t fooling